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Thorne pays an awful lot of attention to detail on his team's bikes, including boring out brake housing ferrules and fabricating custom noodles for some of the smoothest and lightest-feeling 'cross brakes we've encountered

(James Huang)

17 / 24

Gore Professional cables make for silky-smooth shifting and longer maintenance intervals - both key in 'cross

(James Huang)

18 / 24

Powers' SRAM Red front derailleur is actually built with a stiffer - though slightly heavier - steel cage from a Force derailleur

(James Huang)

19 / 24

The SRAM Red rear derailleur held up well to Saturday's mud - roughly two dozen other riders throughout the day's series of races weren't quite so lucky as heavy mud clogged drivetrains

Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com team-mates Tim Johnson, Jeremy Powers and Jamey Driscoll put on a virtual clinic during a weekend's races in and around Boulder, Colorado, with dual podium sweeps in dramatically varied conditions.

Aside from the athletic achievement, the trio's success demonstrates that aluminium is still the dominant frame material in US 'cross racing.

All three machines are built around Cannondale's top-end CAAD9 BB30 Cyclocross frame with its heavily swaged, butted and shaped aluminium tubing, the company's trademark BB30-compatible bottom bracket shell, and smooth welds throughout for a clean appearance and light 1.5kg (3.3lb) weight.

A dramatically flared 'Power Pyramid' down tube and medium-sized chain- and seatstays (the latter using a stout wishbone-style yoke) suggest good front triangle and drivetrain rigidity, while the straight 1 1/8in head tube maintains some cush up front.

Indeed, there's nary a scrap of carbon to be found in the frame – aside from the Easton EC90X all-carbon fork – no tapered head tube, no integrated seatmast and no radical shaping, as is often found on expensive carbon rigs.

The business-like chassis is augmented by a wealth of top-range componentry used by all three team-mates, including a complete SRAM Red transmission and drivetrain (apart from the more 'cross-friendly PG-1070 cassette), Zipp's latest wide-profile 303 carbon tubulars, supple Dugast tubular tyres, Control Tech cockpit components and Fizik's popular Aliante saddle.

In full race-ready trim, Powers' bike weighs a highly competitive 7.39kg (16.29lb) but it's not the bike's stiffness, weight or fancy componentry that make it special. Instead, it's the meticulous attention to detail that Cyclocrossworld.com proprietor – and team mechanic – Stu Thorne puts into each machine.

To say that the team bikes were clean and tuned would be a gross understatement; to say that they were obsessively polished, impeccably adjusted and utterly perfect in every way would be a bit more accurate but still not representative of the level of fastidiousness.

Tyre sidewalls were neatly coated in Aquaseal latex sealant, brake housing ferrules were bored out for reduced drag, and even the stainless front brake hanger noodles were custom fabricated for a cleaner cable path, adding up to some of the smoothest and lightest-feeling 'cross bikes we've encountered.

Thorne pays an awful lot of attention to detail on his team's bikes, including boring out brake housing ferrules and fabricating custom noodles for some of the smoothest and lightest-feeling 'cross brakes we've encountered:

Toss in the sealed Gore Professional derailleur cable set and it added up to a weekend of mechanical-free racing in some decidedly ugly conditions (at least on Saturday) and three dominating performances as icing on the cake.

Whatever amount of carbon flare these machines lacked was more than made up by this weekend's performances, and few can debate their ability to efficiently – and effectively – get the job done.

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James started as a roadie in 1990 with his high school team but switched to dirt in 1994 and has enjoyed both ever since. Anything that comes through his hands is bound to be taken apart, and those hands still sometimes smell like fork oil even though he retired from shop life in 2007. He prefers manual over automatic, fizzy over still, and the right way over the easy way.

Discipline: Mountain, road, cyclocross

Preferred Terrain: Up in the Colorado high-country where the singletrack is still single, the dirt is still brown, and the aspens are in full bloom. Also, those perfect stretches of pavement where the road snakes across the mountainside like an artist's paintbrush.